Used van prices reach new record in May, says Aston Barclay

Used light commercial vehicle (LCV) prices reached a new record at the end of May as the market showed signs of volumes increasing alongside new vehicle supply improving, according to Aston Barclay.

Prices rose by 8.3% (£698) to £9,057 between Q1 and the end of May helped by a fall in average mileage from 104,000 to 94,783 miles while average age remained at 64 months.

The last time prices were at record levels was in Q3 2021 at £8,321 when the market was coming out of a pandemic-induced lockdown.

This performance was despite three May Bank Holidays, including the extra day off for the King’s Coronation, which coincided with traders reporting a dip in footfall levels.

Geoff Flood, Aston Barclay’s national LCV sales manager, all the signs are that five consecutive months of rising new LCV sales are starting to be reflected in a rise in used volumes.

He said: “Used van market demand remains strong which is reflected in record prices, but the most interesting trend is that volumes are gradually increasing in line with better new vehicle supply and growing sales.

“Year-on-year new LCV sales have grown by 14.7% and the word from dealers is that availability is starting to improve with vehicles often turning up ahead of schedule.

“It is helping to contribute to larger weekly LCV sales across the group from multiple vendors.

“The summer is traditionally when the used LCV market slows down but with fuel prices and inflation falling the appetite from SMEs to replace their aging vehicles looks likely to continue.

“This may cause prices to fall back slightly, but signals more new stock coming into the market."